


O Captain, My Captain

by cerulean_sin (am_bellanoire)



Series: Sea Three Shanties [1]
Category: Descendants (Disney Movies)
Genre: F/M, Post-Descendants 3
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-23
Updated: 2019-08-23
Packaged: 2020-09-24 10:49:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,465
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20357239
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/am_bellanoire/pseuds/cerulean_sin
Summary: It had been a year. And after the distraction of them saving Auradon and seeing the barrier fall, the guilt she had felt for so long surged to the surface, rearing its head.





	O Captain, My Captain

_“O captain, my captain our fearful trip is done; the ship has weathered every rack, the prize we sought is won...for you bouquets and ribboned wreaths, for you the shores acrowding, for you they call the swaying mass, their eager faces turning..._” Walt Whitman

* * *

She stood silently in the frame of the door, her arms crossed over her chest, her vision adjusting to the darkness aided by the soft moonlight that filtered in through sheer curtains to make out the shapes of her snoozing crew. The bed had been forgone for the floor, all of them sprawled atop one another in a pile that reminded her of how a pack of wolf pups might sleep. With a soft sigh, Bonny snuggled into the crook of Gonzo's arm and she smiled. The girl was wild as a storm and sharper than the blades she honed when awake, but when she slumbered, it was with the disposition of a teddy bear, if one wore fishnets and a torn bandanna. She could make out Desiree's tiny form, curled into a ball back to back with Jonas, her feet tucked beneath the hem of her tattered dress. Her brows tensed for a moment but then ironed out as if she had remembered where she was and willed a nightmare away with the same viciousness that had earned her a spot on the crew.

Uma smiled to herself and slid from her post, easing the door shut behind her so as not to wake them. For as peacefully as they slept, she knew her crew could be up at attention, weapons drawn, ready to eliminate any threat that had the audacity to breathe their way. She had trained them well.

It had been the intention for them all to have separate rooms, there were enough of them in this wing of the 'starter' castle of Evie's where they had been invited to bunk down for the night, but they had all refused. Of course they did. They weren't accustomed to sleeping alone. That wasn't their way, not back home on their ship and certainly not here in this new land surrounded by strangers who wore the untrustworthy title of _hero_. And Uma hadn't pressed it. She simply gathered the pillows and blankets and bid them goodnight. She wasn't going to be sleeping alone either.

She moved stealthily down the corridor, the heels of her boots hardly making a sound until she reached the room she had claimed as her own. It was bigger and the bed was nice, even nicer than the one in Princess Audrey's dorm room. It sure beat torn netting on a ship that creaked and groaned, rocking violently atop storm chopped waves. Part of her wondered if she would be able to drift off without the familiarity of it all but the other part, the bigger part, knew it wouldn't be a problem because of what or _who_ was waiting for her on the other side of the door.

As could be expected, when Uma stepped inside they were waiting for her. It wasn't hard to ignore the light cream colored walls, the gleaming dark wood, the carpeted floor, the crystalline french windows, the soft electric light of the gilded lamps. Not when her boys captured her total attention. Harry stepped forward first, as was his way, with Gil somewhat shy in his movements as he crept closer.

“Are they all right?”

Uma smiled at the concern her first mate cleverly concealed by an aloofness that he mastered so well. To anyone else besides her and Gil, it would have come across as nonchalance, a tongue in cheek statement that was asked for the sake of being asked. But the tightness around his expressive blue eyes and the way he twirled his hook in his right hand made his unease known. He cared about their crew just as much as she did, he had taken care of them when she had been away. He had kept them in line and they had looked up to him. In this strange place where prettiness and excess covered up the shadows, he needed to know that their loyal comrades hadn't been lured to their doom.

“Sleeping like baby sea urchins,” Uma reported with a chuckle, cupping his cheek briefly before moving onto Gil. She ruffled his damped blonde looks with a fond smile that he returned though the expression didn't quite meet his eyes. Something was bothering him, she could tell, but he wasn't the type to just out and say it. He had difficulty expressing himself especially when he wasn't sure if what he would say would start something he wasn't sure how to finish.

Silence fell over the three of them as they made themselves comfortable to prepare for bed. Evie had supplied them with pajamas, light frilly things that were about as foreign as a grapevine growing on the Isle. What with the bed, the room, their new surroundings, Uma decided to forgo the little scrap of airy fabric. She was used to sleeping in her leathers preferably with her cutlass at arm's reach. One change at a time and all that.

They settled into the four poster, wincing a bit at the soft, pillowy surface as if it stung. It would surely take some getting used to, sleeping on a cloud. But with Uma in the middle, Harry on her right, and Gil on her left, the sea witch was able to relax. Breathe easier, and relish in the fact that she had done what she had promised. She'd gotten her boys and her crew to Auradon.

“Uma?' Gil's voice was soft, nervous like in the darkness, the arm he had draped over her lightening as if he were ready to move it away at any second. Shifting on the bed, Uma took his hand in hers, letting it be known that she wouldn't appreciate it if he broke contact regardless of whatever it was he needed to get off his chest.

"Hmm?”

“Don't you ever do that again.”

They all went still at the uncharacteristic demand. Gil never demanded anything, he barely asked questions. Uma bristled instinctively, her brow quirking even if none could see. But she knew what he was talking about even without requesting a clarification. She knew where he was coming from. And she understood why he said what he said. It had been a year. And after the distraction of them saving Auradon and seeing the barrier fall, the guilt she had felt for so long surged to the surface, rearing its head.

“We'd have rotted on that island, waiting a hundred years fer ye to come back before staying here without ye,” Harry muttered into her ear, coming to Gil's aid even though there was no true need, “With no captain, we're not a crew.”

Despite the seriousness of the moment, Uma couldn't help but smile to herself at the sincerity in her first mate's words. It was one of the best compliments she had ever received true say. But her being her, she had to cover the feeling of giddiness with a pinch of sarcasm, “Is that why you both dove through the barrier with no backup and hardly a dagger between yourselves?”

Gil propped himself up on his free hand, his brows furrowed as he tilted his head, looking as if he were trying to make sense out of nonsense. “We were coming to get you. We didn't know where you were but we were gonna find you.” Because that's what crew did.

“I would've hooked anyone who tried to stop us.” The viciousness in that growling brogue of his made Uma shudder with pleasure despite herself, reaching over in the darkness to slip her pinky around said hook.

“My boys,” she murmured, feeling her body start to drift off even without the swaying waves and crashing surf, “My stupid brave boys.” She had missed them terribly, more than she had ever missed anything in her life. But they had been her motivation out at sea, to keep looking, to keep trying, to not give up. For them. And when the nights grew long and her heart felt as if it might very well shatter from the longing of missing them and her bitter tears mixed with the salty brine of the current, she had willed herself to stay the course. There was no way she could have returned empty handed when they deserved more. And finally, with the both of them at her side, she had delivered.

Still.

“I'll never leave you again. Neither of you. I swear it.”

She might have been born on the Isle and had much to learn about Auradon customs and _goodness_ but when pirates made oaths, they kept them.


End file.
